Health

Burundi ready to prevent spread of coronavirus, Minister of Health says

“People suspected of having contracted coronavirus will be quarantined at Prince Regent Charles Hospital. We have set up isolation rooms there, “Thaddée Ndikumana, Minister of Health announced at a joint press conference held with WHO on 31 January.

Thaddée Ndikumana, Minister of Health

He says the patient will have to spend 14 days there receiving antibiotics to lower the temperature, treat pneumonia and respiratory infections.
“After these two weeks, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO will take blood samples from the patient that will be tested in a laboratory in South Africa,” says Minister Ndikumana.

He says that medical equipment provided to prevent the spread of Ebola virus can also be used to prevent coronavirus. “We have devices at the airport that can measure temperature remotely. The same devices will help us to screen coronavirus, ”explains the Minister.

As Burundi is facing the Ebola epidemic that has raged in the DRC since October 2018, Burundi has implemented practical measures to protect Burundian people from catching this virus while preserving the movement of the population in the two countries.

“We have asked our nurses assigned to the airport that if they find someone from China having clinical signs like fever, cough and a runny nose to transfer them to these isolation rooms at Prince Regent Hospital.

The Minister specifies that service providers must wear masks as well as people suspected of having contracted coronavirus.

In a statement released on 30 January, the Director General of WHO announced that the coronavirus epidemic that has been raging in China for some time has been taken as a global emergency. He called on all WHO member countries to take the necessary measures to protect the population from being infected while preserving its free movement.

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